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Trial Title
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Social security premiums: correct and on time payment
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Social insurance contribution: supporting correct payments
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Abstract
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This document describes a randomized controlled trial (RCT) in Slovak Republic to identify intervention that help self-employed person to pay social insurance premium on time and in correct amount. Social insurance in Slovakia is a complex system. The sum of premium depends on several factors including living wage, level of income, etc. These factors change regularly, so the premium change regularly as well. However, not all self-employed persons are able to follow these changes and as a result they pay wrong premium amount or do not pay premium on time. Prior research shows that simplification of the communicated information, moral appeal or deterrence could help increase the payment moral. Our study aims to test the effect of these interventions on payment moral of self-employed person in the Slovak republic. We use the letter experiment to employ interventions known in the literature.
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After
This document describes a randomized controlled trial (RCT) in Slovak Republic to identify intervention that help self-employed person to pay social insurance contribution's in correct amount. Social insurance in Slovakia is a complex system. The sum of contributions depends on several factors including income, etc. These factors change regularly, so the contribution change regularly as well. However, not all self-employed persons are able to follow these changes and as a result they pay wrong contribution amount or do not pay contributions. Prior research shows that simplification of the communicated information, moral appeal or deterrence could help increase the payment moral. Our study aims to test the effect of these interventions on payment moral of self-employed person in the Slovak Republic. We use the letter experiment to employ interventions known in the literature.
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Trial End Date
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February 17, 2023
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January 31, 2024
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Last Published
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April 11, 2023 08:12 AM
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August 14, 2024 11:00 AM
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Intervention Completion Date
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January 31, 2023
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July 31, 2023
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Final Sample Size: Number of Clusters (Unit of Randomization)
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37 570 self-employed person
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136 025 self-employed person
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Final Sample Size: Total Number of Observations
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37 570 self-employed person
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136 025 self-employed person
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Data Collection Completion Date
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January 31, 2023
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October 31, 2023
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Intervention (Public)
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Intervention is based on the adjustments of the content of letters announcing the social insurance premium payment details that Social Insurance Agency in Slovakia is sending to the self-employed individuals.
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Intervention is based on the adjustments of the content of letters announcing the social insurance contribution details that Social Insurance Agency in Slovakia is sending to the self-employed individuals.
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Intervention End Date
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January 31, 2023
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July 31, 2023
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Primary Outcomes (End Points)
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number of people who pay within each treatment: a) on time, b) on time and in correct amount
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number of self-employed individuals who pay within each treatment correct amount of contribution, number of self-employed individuals who pay within each treatment non-zero, number of self-employed individuals who pay within each treatment incorrect amount of contribution
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Experimental Design (Public)
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Described experiment represents letter experiment. We adjust the content of letters defining the social insurance premium payment details that Social Insurance Agency in Slovakia is obligate to send to the self-employed individuals. In usual and law defined period, the letters are send by usual way in printed and electronic version (by Slovak Post Office and to electronic mailbox). Experimental subjects are self-employed individuals who (1) have newly incurred the obligation to pay premiums on social insurance, (2) have repeatedly incurred the obligation to premiums on pay social insurance and (3) whose amount on premiums on social insurance change. Our design include baseline, two treatments and one orthogonal treatment (leaflet). Each treatment have a individual control group.
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After
Described experiment represents letter experiment. We adjust the content of letters defining the social insurance premium payment details that Social Insurance Agency in Slovakia is obligate to send to the self-employed individuals. In usual and law defined period, the letters are send by usual way in printed and electronic version (by Slovak Post Office and to electronic mailbox). Experimental subjects are self-employed individuals who (1) have newly incurred the obligation to pay contributions on social insurance, (2) have repeatedly incurred the obligation to contributions on pay social insurance and (3) whose amount on contributions on social insurance change. Our design include baseline and four treatments.
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Randomization Method
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Randomization is done on individual level based on the data form the Social Insurance Agency (level of income, gender, age, geographical residence, city size, type of occupation). Randomization will be done in Stata. We control for assignment of same treatment for members of same household (if it is the case).
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Randomization is done on individual level based on the data form the Social Insurance Agency (sex, age, place of residence, size of the city, type of trade and assessment base). Randomization will be done in Stata. We control for assignment of same treatment for members of same household (if it is the case).
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Planned Number of Clusters
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37 570 self-employed person
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136 025 self-employed person
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Planned Number of Observations
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37 570 self-employed person
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136 025 self-employed person
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Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
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(1) self-employed individuals who have newly incurred the obligation to pay premiums on social insurance (5 482 subjects equally distributed among treatments)
(2) self-employed individuals who have repeatedly incurred the obligation to premiums on pay social insurance (3 345 subjects subjects equally distributed among treatments)
(3) self-employed individuals whose amount on premiums on social insurance change based on income change (28 743 subjects subjects equally distributed among treatments)
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After
From this sample, there are 8 826 in the first wave and 19 459 in the second wave self-employed persons who have become liable to pay contributions. In the case of self-employed individuals whose contribution changed, sub sample consists of 28 591 self-employed individuals in the first wave and 79 149 self-employed individuals in the second wave or randomized control trial.
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Intervention (Hidden)
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Intervention is based on the adjustment of the content of letters announcing the social insurance premium payment details that Social Insurance Agency in Slovakia is sending to the self-employed individuals.
Applied types of interventions are as follows:
1. Simplification - included simplified version of original letter content, reorganization of information, adjustment of the letter structure, highlighting the most important details related to payment.
2. Moral norms - included simplified version of original letter with additional information appealing to moral norms of paying premium for social insurance (e.g. how social insurance helps people; information that the majority of payers pay social insurance on time, etc.)
3. Deterrence - included simplified version of original letter with added information about the penalty in case of not paying social insurance premium on time and in correct amount
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After
Intervention is based on the adjustment of the content of letters announcing the social insurance contribution details that Social Insurance Agency in Slovakia is sending to the self-employed individuals.
Applied types of interventions are as follows:
1. Simplification - included simplified version of original letter content, reorganization of information, adjustment of the letter structure, highlighting the most important details related to payment.
2. Moral norms - included simplified version of original letter with additional information appealing to moral norms of paying premium for social insurance (e.g. how social insurance helps people; information that the majority of payers pay social insurance on time, etc.)
3. Deterrence - included simplified version of original letter with added information about the penalty in case of not paying social insurance premium on time and in correct amount
Specifically, our treatments are as follows:
• Control group (T0): Original unedited letter that Social Insurance Agency regularly send to self-employed individuals. The letter uses legal language with references on legislation.
• Simplification (T1): Simplified letter, reducing cognitive load and highlighting important information. This approach is based on research that shows simplification increases attention and reduces procrastination.
• Deterrence (T2): Simplified letter with added information about the likelihood of non-payment being detected and the threat of a penalty, based on evidence that threats can improve compliance.
• Moral appeal (T3): Simplified letter with a moral appeal, including a leaflet with facts about social insurance bringing the moral aspects and social norms of social insurance compliance.
• Deterrence and Moral appeal (T4): Simplified letter with both the deterrence and moral appeal.
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Secondary Outcomes (End Points)
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gender effect, occupational effect, education effect and geographical distribution
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gender effect, social insurance experience, occupational effect, sector of operation effect, education effect and geographical distribution
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